Chapter 668 The Locking Mechanism

Something like an on-off switch, that did not exist in this world. Even the runes that controlled activations still required one to actively connect with them and activate the item. They just kept the activation going till they ran out of mana. If one wanted to deactivate them, you had to connect with them and stop them through your connection.

"Why didn't I think of this?" Erik was shocked how easily he too had overlooked it, it was only when they had called Akarui over and asked her to activate one of the designs that they had realized the problem. It wasn't that she couldn't, but they had to explain to her what to do and what the item did.

"It's just one of those things that are overlooked since it isn't required for things to work," Eldrian replied while finishing up a new design. While he had been working on it, Erik had added an array to the scaffolding farm.

It was by talking with Erik and watching him drawing the array that Eldrian realized his way of adding runes was different, he hadn't noticed it until he saw how similar his method was to create arrays.

He connected all his runes into a larger 'circuit'. Thinking back to how Solvi had made Crystoi, Eldrian realized she had never done something like that. All her runes were a part of a runic network, but they weren't physically connected by some line as he connected his.

This was not how runes were normally connected. After all, by adding a rune onto the item it would become part of the item. There was no need to encapsulate the runes inside a circuit as he did. The sequence that they were added and first activated would determine how they operated. The vision when first controlled would mold the runes together into abilities.

Eldrian himself knew just how powerful this last step was, it was what had allowed him to make the memorial flower without actually knowing how to make it. Though few people could rely so heavily on it as he did. Eldrian's connection and thoughts on magic and mana were most certainly unique, and this was why he had succeeded.

The circuits he made were simply more work, that in most cases didn't do anything. Yet, he couldn't accept not having things connected. In a way he had turned his runes into mini-arrays, only they still functioned through the item and not around an area.

"That should do," Eldrian said, this new item was a diamond-shaped black steel frame. Inside there was a few adjustable crystal sizes. Placing a hand-sized quartz (the largest commonly used) into it, Eldrain smiled seeing its snug fit.

He then took it out and placed a nail-sized quartz (the smallest commonly used).  Seeing that it would not fall out of its position, Eldrian closed the frame and locked it. Upon locking it, it briefly gave a light green shine, indicating that it had been successfully activated.

Eldrian's little dot rune came in use here, along with his normally nonessential circuit rune design. By having the circuit complete upon locking the frame, Eldrian managed to remove the need for someone to connect to the device.

However, if someone forgot to change the crystal or activated it without one inside, it would turn the frame to dust. If it was installed into the scaffolding of the verticle farm then the entire thing would become dust.

"That is kind of a big problem..." Erik mumbled, it was too big of a problem for them to accept it as is. Thus, the two started working together to try and create a failsafe.

A day passed and Eldrian learned much more about arrays. His conclusion was that they were almost exactly the same as runes, and yet they were completely different. In creation, they were similar but in working they differed greatly.

An array would form around an area. Covering the entire area when activated by following the Rilpai (pathways) that have been connected to its Protii (modules). The Protii were almost like runes, they determined what the array was going to do, while the Rilpai were like the material.

A rune instead would be formed on an item, and upon activation, it would work through the item it is carved on. It was limited to the item, but this also enhanced its strength. It became one with what it was added onto while arrays stayed separate creations.

As the two were struggling to come up with a failsafe on their second day, a few of the helpers started noticing the scattered failed tests covering their area. Curious, they approached the two and asked what they were busy with.

It didn't take long for rumors to spread and crazy ideas to be the typical topic. What Erik and Eldrian were doing was something completely unheard of and everyone was fascinated by it.

It did not take long for this commotion to attract even more attention. A few hours later Thesolis arrived, her status after everything had certainly jumped several levels. Thus, upon her arrival everyone quieted down and returned to work while stealing sneaky glances at this centaurette and the duo who were still oblivious to her arrival.

"I heard you made something interesting." She said, the two were so invested that even when she was standing next to them they did not notice.

"It's just a switch, nothing special." Eldrian and Erik replied, having become irritated from the constant questions they had started auto-answering questions.

Noticing that they were truly engrossed in their work, Thesolis decided to not bother them right now. She could wait and while she did she looked a the discarded frames and even two half-destroyed scaffolding frames.

She found their approach to the creation of formations fascinating. By mixing runes with an array it is theoretically possible to regulate the array without personal interference. However, this was quite advanced stuff. For them to have stumbled upon it was a wonder to her.

Eldrian and Erik finally realized that Thesolis was here only after another failure. "Do you know how we can stop the decay?" Eldrian asked, seeing her confusion he explained further.

"I see, so this dot is actually a rune. And upon finishing these, 'circuits', it activates the runes which then gives mana to the array's Proto, in this case, the elemental focal." The explanation finally helped her understand what they were attempting to do.

"But the problem is that this dot isn't regulated. It does not stop once the crystal is drained, rather it continues to drain mana even of the metal and wood."

"Yes, and we've tried to make it so that when the crystal is emptied or missing that the circuit would be broken. But thus far it hasn't worked." Erik added.

Thinking for a moment, Thesolis had a simple idea. "Why not add something more draining here?" Pointing to the locking mechanism she explained that if they made it so it was drained quickly then wouldn't it simply break/turn to dust and thus the activation mechanism would disappear.

"It's worth a shot..." Erik shrugged and Eldrian quickly jumped into attempting this. The problem now was to make the drain high enough to have the locking level break before it damages the rest of the frame or even the wooden scaffolding, but at the same time, it should not be so draining as to massively influence how long a crystal would last.

And naturally, the two did not have the time to wait for the crystals to be drained naturally. Eldrian would always bring them to the cusp of failure by removing most of the crystal's mana. At first, he had channeled it into spells, but now he simply let the mana dissipate into the surroundings. Or he absorbed it if he needed some.

After a few tries, they succeeded but the drain from the locking lever (the activation and locking mechanism) was now simply too high. After a few more tests they returned to the idea of having the crystal be the focus of the circuit.

The dot rune upon activation would simply not deactivate unless they broke the circuit at the start. "Why is it being so difficult?" Eldrian grumbled, trying to figure out why it would deactivate when he opened the frame but not when the crystal, the center of the entire circuit, was missing.

'I see, I'm an idiot.' Eldrian sighed and laughed. He finally understood, it was because even if the larger circuit was broken, the dot rune was still connected to the circuit and the runes engraved onto the frame were still fully functional.

It wasn't working because he forgot that this wasn't an electrical circuit, this was a circuit made up of runes and lines with mana being the electrical equivalent. As such, the runes were the core, not the lines. He didn't need and out and in line to the lever, he just needed one line.

'So, all I need to do is not have the locking lever be connected to any runes before it goes through the crystal.' Such a simple solution, when Eldrian shared this with Erik the two had a good laugh at their struggles over such a simple oversight.

They had both been thinking with the same line of thoughts, Thesolis on the other hand was still trying to figure out what the dot rune exactly was and did. Eldrian's brief explanation did not allow her to understand how it worked.

Making the modification, the two smiled upon confirming that it worked. They felt partly like fools and partly like geniuses. "We're not telling anyone why we were stuck for over a day on this." Erik proposed and Eldrian quickly agreed. To overlook something so simple, he didn't want to mention it to others either.

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